Even though federation has led to racists and/or NATO defenders showing up, I've also encountered a number if very cool people from other instances posting things like helpful advice on federation stuff, vivid descriptions of getting vored by a pack of anthro-hyenas, interesting insights and opinions on Star Trek lore, etc. I still haven't found much in the way of active hobby communities, but it's pretty cool to see more Star Trek and furry stuff in the timeline, and I feel it makes having to deal with the occasional deranged lib worth it.
Anyways, to all the genuinely cool people who wander into Hexbear threads, I'm very glad you've showed up to bless us with your wonderful posts and I hope you stick around.
I noticed you consistently capitalized Ukraine and consistently used lowercase for Russia here. This kind of stuff was started by the far-right reactionary regime in Ukraine to further dehumanize Russians by refusing to recognize them as a legitimate people. You would do well to abandon this trend and properly capitalize Russia, acknowledging that Russians are in-fact human. Some people are lazy in their typing, but this seems to be deliberate in this case.
Edit: Checking your post history, there's another instance of this from 7 days ago as of the time of this post. Russians are as human as anybody else, and shouldn't be demoted to sub-human levels by refusing to capitalize the words "Russia" and "Russians". Regardless of how you may personally feel about the Russian government's actions, it's not okay to deny recognizing an entire people's fundamental humanity.
Edit Edit: Checking your post history from other instances reveals far more instances of this, all consistent. Point stands.
This is true. I don't apologize for it (yet?), but I don't intend to deny their humanity and I'm kind of shaken that it's interpreted that way. Which is entirely on me, and I wanted to thank you for the shock because it's a blind spot I don't like to have. I obviously have some thinking to do.
Not capitalizing certain names is my personal choice to show that by their actions they no longer have my respect. For instance I do the same for the billionaires that are constantly in the news, and the ex president who has tried to steal the election.
My reasoning/feeling for applying it to russia is that their state TV shows constantly dehumanize Ukraine. Regardless of history and how the point was reached, russia invaded Ukraine and have stated clearly that they consider the state of Ukraine to simply not exist. Ukrainians have been tortured, raped, and systematically genocided by russia.
Respectfully, I understand that you or many here may not agree with those statements, but I'm not sure how to progress from there
How about you watch this video about what's actually been going on in Ukraine, that Western media (including all their big tech proxies) has basically censored with a conspiracy of silence on reporting: Ukraine Targets Elon Musk, US Aid Dwindles, Ukraine's Offensive Increasingly Depleted
What ever lack of respect you have for Russia (or anybody, for that matter), you should take that up in the form of airing your grievances in a precise and targeted approach to what exactly you don't like about them or their actions. It is unnecessary to use lowercase when referring to a person or a people's proper identity, as it suggests they are of a lesser or illegitimate race/status. There's acceptable processes for showing you have a dispute with a person or entity (Russian government, for instance), and refusing to capitalize someone's name or race isn't one of them. You've been manipulated into a practice that is against people's fundamental right of having their humanity recognized.
You seriously have to ask yourself if this is worth it, continuing down this path. Do you really want to be remembered this way?
Can I draw from this the implication that you respect
?
I don't have a lot of respect for the democratic party really. Which is outright adoration compared to what I think of the republicans!
Not a libertarian either. I dunno, I don't really fit in. Which isn't some dumb "I'm not like the other
girlsvoters" crap, I just don't agree with much...Lol I can't stay away today it seems. Oh well, I'm a sucker for punishment I guess.
Of course I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff.
Maybe I should just be Monster Raving Loony party instead?
Remember that you're speaking mainly to communists. I hate the Republicans, the Democrats, the Libertarians, the Greens, and basically any party that you've likely heard of besides the larger communist parties (which are meh). Rejecting all the neoliberal parties is not in itself even slightly incoherent, and it seems that a rejection of the domestic aspects of neoliberalism are your strongest throughline here.
I agree with almost every bullet point as-presented, discounting the second one because you express ambivalence there anyway.
I think the "two planet" thing is silly because terraforming Mars is much more expensive, wasteful, and difficult than terraforming Earth, but I don't think you'd split the party over that one. I also disagree about taxing churches, but I think there should be better standards for establishing a church and they should, as you say, be subject to regular auditing.
I furthermore think minors should be allowed on social media but that's kind of a difficult question and there should be more serious age-gating. China has some interesting laws in this respect, actually, with accounts that are tied on the back end to your real-life identity but with that information not displayed to others. It makes it much easier to track down when someone says something alarming (e.g. a bomb threat, talk of being abused, etc.) while letting them have anonymity to their peers and avoid stalking.
But beyond that (and what I said are my personal opinions anyway), everything you said is consistent with common socialist platforms. I think, so long as you're reserved in your communication style, you'd have a good time over on hexbear.net and people would send you reading/videos that you might find interesting and informative.
Here is a video that comes to mind as being relevant to matters that you discuss:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nPVkpWMH9k
And here's a letter written by Lenin that I think you'd like (when Lenin says "liberal" he essentially means "capitalist" and "social democrat" is "communist"):
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/mar/11.htm
You are an excellent person, I'm thankful for our conversation and I appreciate you.
Aw, thanks. I'm glad I got to talk to you too
China by Numbers: Improvements to legal system over the past decade
A look at the country's (China's) progress in improving rule of law
Facebook Targets Cambodia's Prime Minister: A Lesson in Securing Information Space
This myth of other countries salivating for opportunities to penetrate and manipulate the US' information space is complete projection. The US itself leverages its big tech companies' de-facto monopoly on much (if not most) of the world's information space, as Facebook and other US-based big tech firms operate globally and are used for what you've basically parroted about TikTok.
US media/social media platforms have always been used for war-like purposes, even domestically within the US. Every election they strong-arm dissenting views that contradict the narratives the capitalist class finds threatening to their legitimacy and the legitimacy of their system of liberal democracy. You don't have to take my word for it, you'll see it yourself as election season heats up again in the US.
If anything, TikTok has offered people (especially marginalized groups) an alternative that isn't as vulnerable to direct US manipulation via the national security state. That's why the US has hysteria over TikTok; because they can't control it the same way that they can other firms like Facebook which are directly integrated into the various three-letter agencies (most notoriously the CIA and FBI, but also the NSA in terms of data collection and storage). Tiktok offers a place where working class people can more effectively dissent against the US' tyranny without being censored, de-platformed or otherwise sabotaged so easily.
Edit: Your policy positions trend positively overall, so that's comforting.
Nobody's convinced by this weak excuse. You might as well just go all the way by saying "ruZZian" like all the NAFO fellas are doing.
I don't find it very persuasive, but it's a hill absolutely not worth dying on to argue against it compared to looking at the actual content of claims.
I'm not trying to convince you nor anyone. I presented what I feel and think, based on my experience.
I don't think this is the instance for you. You've been listening to too much reactionary nonsense if you think this is a defensible position to hold.
people have to learn from somewhere and this one appears to at least be here in good faith.
I agree to an extent. But we all gave him reading material, and that second to last paragraph is truly alarming.
no one changes overnight, people take it at their own pace. confusion, shock, and curiosity are the first steps. if they're still saying stuff like that in a month, I'll be more concerned.
That's fair I suppose.
Thank you for recognizing that. I don't think I fit in here, the positions held by people don't seem to be reconcilable with what I've experienced, seen, and read. I don't want to create further bad feelings or friction in your community.
I think talking as you have, you'll do fine. Like 1/8 posters are going to come at you, but you can just block them. You can slightly reduce that number by not making frivolous accusations of genocide (whatever might be said of other crimes)
This is not directly related but worth reading
I don't feel like I'm being frivolous. I see the reports that russian people are taking Ukrainian children. I see the state TV in russia stating that Ukrainians are animals to be exterminated. I've spoken with Ukrainians who told me what russians did to their village and their friends.
Based on what I've seen, I think that russia is trying to commit genocide against Ukraine.
I'm not trying to convince people here of that. They've told me that they don't accept that stuff is happening, that they stand with russia against western aggression. Our sources of information state fundamentally opposite accounts of events.
I'm sure you do, but as far as I've ever seen this is a distortion of Russia evacuating children from warzones, typically ethnically Russian children from Donbas who had been separated from their parents by the war.
Could you show me an example of this where the person saying it can be reasonably understood as representing the Russian government? I suppose it'll result in a moot point because phrasing is very important here and specifically there is a difference between "all Ukrainians" being that versus "this group of people who are Ukrainians," such as the hardcore banderites. I don't really agree with exterminationist rhetoric, but if I had to choose who gets the business end, it should probably be fascists like the Azov battalion (and fuck the Wagner Nazis too, obviously)
If you want to leave, we're powerless to stop you.
We can have a constructive discussion about Russia's conflict with the West (which is using Ukraine as a proxy), but only after this fundamental issue of dehumanization is reconciled. There is no moving forward for me without that fundamental roadblock being removed, because it affects everything about how you see and treat Russian people (and people in general).
I'm personally not advocating for you to leave, and would suggest against others' efforts to push you out while you are engaging here in good faith. Change isn't comfortable or quick, and it involves a lot of uncomfortable reckoning with established narratives and experiences you thought/think show the objective reality without distortions.
Ultimately, the decision to remain here is up to you. Should you leave, the door is open for you to return should you decide it's worth the reckoning of those blind spots and challenging what you thought/think is right.
minimally, read the material / watch the videos people recommended. getting some exposure to thought outside the bubble of western propaganda can never hurt. and you never know, you might change your mind in the future.
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